Saturday, April 04, 2009

Cubs/Yanks, First Game Ever At New Yankee Stadium

I already showed you the outside of the new place--tonight I went inside for its first game ever. Click each pic to enlarge:I went with Jim and Chan, each of whom I've known for almost 20 years--both Yankee fans. My plan to go in through the out-of-the-way Gate 2 worked, as we were the first ones in, despite getting there ten minutes before gates opened (4:00 for a 7:10 start). I gave Jim the nod as first person to enter the stadium for a game in history--it was funny listening to the workers quibble before they let us, still wondering how this was gonna work themselves.

We got in and had hours to walk around. We started in left, and then headed to Monument Park--this is the view looking up from there at the batter's eye cafe--yes, there are people eating fancy food behind that tinted glass. When we left Monument Park, we saw the line had become hundreds of people long--we hadn't waited at all. I never went to M.P. at the old place--but it was what I expected, and it also gave us a feel of the way the new stadium works: in a rigid, robotic manner, as we were herded past each monument.

The view from the pole in exact center field.

Looking down the wall at the warning track.

Looking to the left toward right field.

Looking to the right toward left field.

One of the two manual scoreboards.

The ceiling of the lower deck with outfield seats in the background.

The field from the top of the lower level. This is as close to the field you can get without a ticket. I gotta figure if they'd had batting practice, they would have let us go down to the fences--but even three hours before an exhibition game, it was: go where your ticket says and nowhere else.

The great hall.

Going up stairs to the higher levels, you see this.

Looking over at the old stadium, I noticed that message board was blank....

The field. That huge, hi-def scoreboard is re-goddamn-diculous.

Angles in the outfield.

You've probably heard about the obstructed bleacher seats. They are VERY obstructed--from that seat at the far left in the back row, you can literally only see half the field. They have TVs on that wall--but during this game, at least, those only showed what the scoreboard showed--not the game. If you do have those seats, I suggest going right up on top of the very thing that's in your way--the landing atop the batter's eye cafe--to watch the game, if you don't mind standing.

Weird grassy strip between bleachers and left field lower level seats.

Finally, we're at our seats in the last row of the upper deck, which they now call grandstand. One dollar and ten cents each on this night only, same as they cost in 1923 when the original stadium opened. Looking out behind us, the old stadium. Look closely, the field is gone...

Looking to our left toward home plate. We were under cover on this rainy yet comfortable night. Note the new facade or frieze or whatever you wanna call it.

Looking back over at the old stadium, I noticed that the padding on the fences is also gone.

View from behind the frieze.

Infield in pre-game.

Suddenly this special...unit was right near us. There were a dozen of 'em, each with gigantic bags. We didn't figure out that they were snipers until...

They started climbing onto the roof!

Top of the right field wall by the pole. We actually saw a home run hit each foul pole in this game.

The center field area, with the batter's eye cafe and the landing above it, and Monument Park below.

In the Cubs bullpen, you can see where the pitchers sit behind glass. The Yanks bullpen has been moved back over to right field.

Night has fallen, and the game is on.

And rain is falling.

It was too foggy before, but now you can see Manhattan's skyline peeking over the old stadium, which is unlit inside.

The scene in the right field grandstand in the ninth inning.

The crowd was uninspired. Maybe it was the rain, the fact that it didn't count, or just a feeling of not knowing what to do yet, but the whole night was pretty low-key. Lots of workers either standing around with nothing to do, or greeting you even though you've already been greeted. And lots of seemingly wasted space. The whole thing felt almost like we were touring the place on a non-game day. But that's what happens when you get to a game three hours early. The game itself was the definition of an afterthought. A lot of seats were never filled, and lots of people left early. Come to think of it, I hadn't been to a Yankee Stadium game where the Red Sox weren't the opponent in years--maybe this is just what the place is like without that buzz in the crowd. Nobody seemed to notice my Sox hat.

I definitely had fun with my two friends who I don't get to see very often--Jim knows *almost* all of the World Series matchups, so we quizzed each other all night between classic high school era stories. And it was still a baseball game, which is always a good thing, but I think all three of us had an overall "meh" feeling about the night. The snipers really capped off the whole experience: get too excited, and we'll shoot your ass. The place is like a billion dollar toy you're not allowed to unwrap. I'll probably get back there at some point, but I won't be rushing--I just wanted to see the place, and now I have.

I have to get up in a few hours--Red Sox-Mets at Citi Field! Another rainy one, but at the very least I know I'll be seeing the Red Sox, so it should be a fun day with the same trio, plus John Quinn--and I know some other e-pals will be there, too. So...more pics to come....plus some cool video I shot tonight

Friday, April 03, 2009

The Other Side

It's officially the era in which I've been to the new Yankee Stadium, yet I haven't been to the Mets' new park. This era will only last a few more hours. Anyway, I'm back in Chan's Manhattan apartment before 11. Nice. The wind is howling. Pics from tonight coming soon.

ClaJe

You know the Classic Jere weather pattern, or "ClaJe." This is when I plan an event months ahead of time and then carefully watch the long-term weather forecast and watch as it slowly becomes clear that my exact day is the worst of the 30 around it. Yesterday: 60 and sunny. Sunday: 60 and Sunday. The two days in between, on which I've got these two games at the new NYC ballparks: Rainy one day, 40-MPH winds the next, with temps in the 50s. Could be worse.... and also, please note that I have lots of good luck in lots of other areas of life, but in this one, I almost consistently get that exact day with the worst weather. Not much I can do about it.

Anyway, even in the rain, I did Providence to NYC in under 3 hours--hardly any traffic. Now we prepare to head out in the rain...good thing our seats are under cover tonight. Pics later.

The Countdown Continues: Grade 1

Just a few more days till Opening Day! And just a few more grades till we reach 3-year old nursery school. First grade:Switch the two kids at the top right and this thing is exactly symmetrical, left-right, male-female-wise, not including Mrs. Campbell. Anyway, you've seen everyone in this class, except for one boy, Bobby, and one girl, Kelly. Can you find them? I mean, can you find them, Rebecca?

Thursday, April 02, 2009

It's Your Citi...

I am psyched for the big NYC dual stadium trip! I've been waiting for this since, like, September. At least the Mets part of it, which was announced back then. But then when I heard of a Yanks-Cubs matchup the same weekend, I thought it would be a perfect way to see both stadiums, and for cheap, as all tickets were discounted. It all worked out perfectly, as I got six dollar seats for Queens, one dollar seats for Bronx. Turns out I made the right move to get YS tickets to this game, as I wasn't able to get one other seat there all for the entire season. (Unless I wanted to pay $2,625 per seat.)

So, here we go. I was happy to learn Shake Shack would be at Citi Field, and now I know it is currently open, but my favorite, the Concrete, will not be available. There is a comprehensive article about what is available food-wise at Citi, if you're going down this weekend.

The official release about the Fenway improvements, year roman numeral 8, is out. I'm still wondering what that area up by Canig's Corner looks like. The seating chart shows this one awkwardly placed RF roof box halfway on the Bud Roof Deck, and tickets have been onsale listed as "new RF Roof Box Row F-G." They say they'll have Monster-style seats up there atop the regular RF roof box seats, which are all new and have a standing area behind them. So maybe row F-G is the new Conig's corner, and have the Monster-style stools? Once again, veggie dogs have NOT been added to the new food selection. Boo.

Oh, and I have two extra tix for Friday at Citi--the night I'll be at Yankee Stadium. Want them? I'll sell 'em to you for face value, 11 bucks each. You'd have to meet me in NYC on Friday early afternoon, though. Or along I-95 Friday morning. E-mail me, address at right.

Two contests are up and running. Mine, and the one at Joy of Sox. Update--I forgot about the contests at this site--see top-right box, and do me a favor, mention my name when you enter--that makes me eligible for another prize. I don't know how this guy is getting World Series tickets...but he's giving them away to the winner, along with other stuff in various contests.

The Washington Nationals...Cannot...Touch...Me

So gold. My big road trip this year is to see the Sox in DC at the Nationals' new park. Chan and I are going down. The Nats are no fools so they made the Red Sox series invite-only. Chan lost the lottery, but I won, so we were in. Today was the big day to buy. I noticed the Nats use tickets.com as the Sox do, so I was already at an advantage. I did my pre-prep work, and was ready to go at 10:00. Instead of being sent into a VWR, basically any window you opened put you right at the password screen. So you were sent right in to select tickets. I got the "high volumes" error--but that never discourages me...I think of that as "I'm in, I just need to hit continue again and again until I pop through." Which I did after four clicks of continue. The seats I wanted were the ones I got. Washington Nationals ticket office...slain!

By the way, I'm not doing the dream DC/Atl/Balt trip which you could do as the Sox play those teams in order--I settled for just DC. But it should be fun. Mr. Smith goes to you know where.

Good luck! Note: Jeff took the Red Sox which wasn't allowed, and didn't pick again, so I gave him one of the untaken teams, the Brewers.

))))))))))))))))))))))

Okay, we're gonna do the ol' "0-13" game. Everybody picks a team. The goal is for your team to be the first one to score every possible amount of runs (from 0 to 13) as their final total for a game. Think of it as a checklist--if your team scores five runs in their first game, you've got your five, and you only need 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. And if they get 5 again, it just means nothing. I guess I could make a rule where 14 or more runs in a game counts as a 13, but I won't. Anything over 14 just doesn't count. If you still don't get it, look at the Red Sox game log from 2008--they accomplished this on 9/15. When they scored 13 that night, it meant they'd finished a game with every amount of runs between 0 and 13.)

So pick a team in comments--make sure you pick one that hasn't been picked. Don't pick Red Sox or Yanks, though. I'm keeping those two out of the contest. You've got 28 teams to choose from, so pick away.

PRIZES: First place gets a signed copy of my book AND....let's see....I'll make it so you and a guest get to go to a "sporting event" for free. At some point.

Second place gets a signed copy of my book. Third through 28th place--you'll get nothing and like it.

Bonus, 10:50 PM: If you have a lot of money, and you didn't get selected in the Monster Seats drawing, there are Monster Row 2-4 seats ($160) available at redsox.com--but only for one game. You guessed it, it's one of the October games, which have been flying under the radar since the schedule came out. October 1st. It's so rare to see that dark green on the ticket screen. It's like getting to Mike Tyson for the first time in Punch-Out. You know that it is possible to see him, you just don't know if you ever will. If I was a rich dude, I'd be psyched right now. If those tix are gone by the time you check, well, sorry....

Yankee Dump

Rare you actually see the little T up for a Yankee game on the Sox schedule. They did it for the Sunday night game in April, though. Looks like single seats--but, you can get standing room--regular, pavilion, or Coke. (We'll find out in a week whether a pavilion SRO lets you into the Coke SRO area and vice versa--they're the same price.) So, click here to buy for that game--lots of ticket categories available. And keep checkin' that schedule for more dumps.

Oh, and the May Tampa weekend also is now available, but it looks like only expensive seats.

Sox/Bucs (Over)

Good article about Dustin Pedroia in Boston Magazine here. In the same issue, there's also a funny one about drunk dudes sneaking into a World Series game.

NYT article about tickets here. It's mainly about concert tickets, but it's much of the same complaining I do about baseball tix. It's so horrible--Ticketmasturbater sells out a concert in seconds. Then, the secondary-market sites (read: filthy scalpers in Armani suits instead of sweatsuits) are immediately flooded with tickets to that same concert, all going for way above face value. Which would be bad enough, but then consider that the secondary-market site is OWNED BY TICKETMASTER. The government needs to take one look at this and SHUT THE WHOLE COMPANY DOWN. I'm glad this is really becoming news now--another major news source is supposed to be putting out another story about this, too. (I only know that because I'm in it!)

Sox at Pirates today. I think I'll do any updates below this instead of above it today.

1:50: TJ by MLB, as the link on redsox.com to today's game on GameDay takes you to yesterday's Cubs-Angels game. For a corporation that makes so much money, they really do a horrible job consistently with every aspect of their Web sites. Anyway, we're scoreless in the third. Beckett on the mound for us.

2:15: Three-run homer for Ambres. Pirates color man says "uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh" while the other guy calls the play. SHUT UP. A nice long post by me about announcers around the league is overdue.

2:23: About the Boston Magazine article I linked above--I would like to point out that I (and every other blogger, I'm sure) got the email from them as a heads-up about that. Usually when that happens, I don't post about whatever it is, knowing I'll then have the same top post as every other Red Sox blog, and because I like finding stuff myself, but it was a good article, so I went for it. Pirates rallying again, down 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

2:28: Pirates tie it at 3.

2:48: Lopez with a nice 1-2-3 fifth. 3-3 in the sixth.

3:00: As long as I'm crediting my sources and acting all cool like I always find stuff on my own, I should point out that my mom gave me the heads-up on that NYT article. 3-3 after 6. Pirates announcer misses a foul ball almost hitting him because he was "looking down at the computer." The play-by-play radio guy. Missing a pitch. I know it's spring training but that is ridic.

3:33: 3-3, middle eighth.

3:43: Pap with an OTT 8th. 3-3 going to the ninth.

3:54: Sox lead 4-3 going bottom 9.

4:00: Red Sox beat Pirates, 4-3, with Chris George closing it out. And that Dallas cop resigned. Nice and nice.

The Countdown Continues: Grade 2

We're one step closer to Opening Day as we move to second grade... the big 2009 season contest is coming up later today!So...I went off the board with my pose in the grade 2 picture. Uncharacteristic. Other notes: This was a huge class! And, terrible job by the photographer, as several kids clearly weren't ready/were sneezing/etc. I'm sure you can spot me. But can you also find....the kid who went by the name "Bill" as opposed to the more kid-friendly "Billy"? ...Another kid who homered off me a few years later in Little League? (also over the wall, and this time with a rare wooden bat)...the kid who ate his potato chips with ketchup?....the kid who I've seen recently sitting at the scorer's table at halfcourt in NCAA basketball tournament games?....the kid who moved to Australia?...the kid who later got a pilot's license and ran a legitimate radio station out of his room, on which I won 103 cds in 1991 by being the 103rd caller? (I was also probably the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, etc...)....the kid who later crashed his motorcycle and required a body cast?....the girl who got her jean jacket autographed by one Corey Feldman when he came to Ridgefield for some reason?...the kid whose father prompted me to scream at the top of my lungs when he appeared on my TV screen--as a contestant on Wheel of Fortune?...the kid whose dad I named a short-lived band after (Skip Faith)?....the kid who came up to my lunch table in middle school and said "everyone at this table is a nerd" before noticing me, remembering that he'd known me since kindergarten, and then added, "except Jere"?

New Site Announcement--LQQK!

I'm starting a new Web site for the 2009 season. It will be a new way of interacting with other Red Sox fans. On the new site, which will be my main focus, though I may still post here occasionally, we'll each be given a "fan number." I'll be number 0001. The first person to sign up will be 0002, etc. Any time you go to a game, you enter your number into that day's Fan Cache, along with the section you'll be sitting in. (Please bring a camera as you'll be expected to document any "points" you tally.) The whole season will be one long contest, as each person will be e-mailed a kwiz question before the game. Part of the contest is finding other fans that are part of the new club. Each Fan will be asked to wear their Fan Number on their person. Anytime you see a fellow Fan, you each ask each other your question. Through Twitter, I'll be keeping track of everything from home--or from my seat as I play along! Each game will have an individual winner, who will win that day's prize. In order to make these prizes available, I will ask that you pay a small fee to join. 15 dollars for the whole season, probably. The rest of the prizes will come from ad revenue, which will be a prominent--but classy--portion of the new site. Payments can be made through Paypal, and must be received by April 7th--I'll provide a link, as well as the final price (if it ends up being $20 or more, I apologize, that's just the way it'll have to be to get this system up and running.)

If you're wondering how you can affix your Fan Number to your clothing, fear not--it'll all be done by purchasing T-shirts with your number on it. I'll provide that link tomorrow--it'll be $30 per T-shirt. Please specify the correct Fan Number when ordering. If you don't, a T-shirt will be shipped, but you'll be charged twice for your second, correct T-shirt. No refunds! At the All-Star Break, all winners will be required to come to my friend Don's apartment in northern New Jersey. (Sorry, shipping is not an option.) During the prize pick-up, a chance for the First Half Grand Prize will be given to all individual winners. We'll be doing this "spin the bottle" style, where each winner will put fifty dollars into a central pot, and remove their clothing. (Don't worry, by year 3 of this it'll all be old hat to everyone--there won't be anything any of us haven't seen before.) And at this point, a thousand dollars will be stuffed inside the mouth of Don's male maid while Pee-Wee Herman dances the jig with Alex Trebek and if you haven't noticed it's April 1st by now, you may have a serious problem. Look for the real contest later today.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

That Water Bottle Thing Again

You know how every year or so you get that forwarded e-mail about how re-using plastic water bottles can KILL KILL KILL? And how at some point you actually looked into it and found out it was all lies?

Well, now some company is trying to sell you canteens based on the lies.

Here's their site, complete with "PROTECT YOUR FAMILY" warning. The commercial I just saw during Family Ties should start playing automatically.

I wrote an e-mail to the company asking if they're purposely misleading people or if they just didn't do their research. (Note: Their point about using less plastic is valid--but then again, that's why we re-use the damn bottles.)

Sox/TB

3:52: Ram-Ram puts runners on the corners in the ninth, but gets out of it. We win, 8-7, after having been down 7-2. Nice.

3:33: Angel Chavez singles St. Nick home, 8-7 us.

3:29: Nick Green with a 2-run triple with 2 outs in the eighth! Tied at 7.

3:12: Varitek with a 3-run shot off Sonnanstine, 7-5 Rays, we go to the eighth.

2:27: We had a nice rally off Sonnanstine, 5-2 them after 4.5.

&&&&&&&&&&&

In the fourth inning, Buchholz gave up two balls that could've been easy outs, but went for two bases each. After each of those, he gave up a home run. So it's not as bad as it looks, but HH did give up two dongs. 5-0 TB in the fourth.

Them All

Nothing reflects more poorly on our society than the fact that we have two movies about mall cops out at the same time.

So I was looking at some MLB sites, finding new slogans (updates here), and I noticed that almost consistently, the game story on each site's front page shows a picture that doesn't correspond with its caption. I've seen this on the Red Sox site a few times--I didn't realize this was tradition, though. Where's the communication between caption writer and photo picker?

Monday, March 30, 2009

Sox Win!

Okay, it's actually the ninth inning still, and we only lead 3-2, but I figured as long as the results don't matte, why not test the jinx universe to see if it's paying attention? Have a little fun with it?

Update, 3:54: Hey! The jinx police were on their game! It really does work. Good to know.... Braves tie it in the 9th. (I have to admit, though, right after I wrote the original post I went to the boxscore and saw that Cabrera was starting the ninth for us, and I thought, Uh-oh, this game isn't over, and it has nothing to do with jinxes....)

Update, 4:09: Sox Lose! The jinx completely worked, but the Baseball Gods were the suckers today, forgetting the game is just an exhibition. Cox gave up two doubles in the bottom of the tenth to lose it. 4-3 Braves, final. I'll leave the post title as is so people reading later can get the full effect. By the way, the Yankees are definitely gonna win the World Series. Definitely!

Your Zeroth Look At Citi Field

I'll be showing you my own photos of the place next weekend, but Zack has a really good critique of Citi Field in photos. He brings up all the things that stink about this park--and it's all logistic stuff I completely understand. In his overall assessment at the end, he says what I've been saying for years, pointing out all the ways it imitates the other new parks. I've been calling them "the new cookie cutters" for a long time now.

Camden Yards got it right. They looked at the way parks used to be, and did something in that spirit, instead of copying 80 per cent of the other stadiums around it....whereas all the parks coming out now? That's right, they're: "copying 80 per cent of the other stadiums around it." Some are nice, but the whole league is so anti-septic now.

The question to me has been, "who will build the next SkyDome?" That place was the Eagles tour-bus brigade to Camden Yards' Ramones' first club gig. That poor city got stuck with the last of the dinosaurs, then watched as everyone else partied it up in the gutter. Now with the new cookie-cutters, somebody else is gonna get stuck with the last, most sterilized, overly retro-fied, spring training looking park that costs way too much money to build and get into...right before somebody else starts a new trend. I think the city of New York may have co-dinosaurs.

But how sweet would it have been if the Yanks had built their big tomb, while the Mets waited it out...and then started a new trend? But what would that new trend be? Well, no $2,600 seats. No catering to the rich. Put all that money-making fanciness on the periphery, and leave the fans to sit and watch baseball on a ballfield.

God I'm glad we've still got Fenway Park. The only true solution for these other teams is one they can never attain: going back in time.

The Countdown Continues: Grade 3

Opening Day is getting closer! I give you...third grade:I still look the same--but can you also find...the girl whose essay was so bad, the teacher ripped it up and sprinkled the pieces on her head? The girl we nicknamed Ana the Unicorn? A kid who hit a home run off me (over the wall) in Little League a few years later? The girl with a sister named "Sunny Jean"? The kid whose family put a "Go Mets" sign to rebut their neighbor's "Go Red Sox" sign during the '86 Series? The kid who later smoked in high school and would actually do the "Schneider" method of rolling the pack into his sleeve on his shoulder? The kid who gave a TOOTHBRUSH as his grab bag gift one Christmas--which I picked!? The girl who got walked in on in the bathroom--by the toothbrush kid?

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Sox At Phils (Sox Win)

3:34: MDC didn't look great, but he pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th, we win 3-1.

3:11: Jacoby goes very deep. 3-1, mid 8th.

3:04: Ram-squared pitches a scoreless 7th. Still 2-1 in the 8th.

2:28: 2-1 us after 5. With regards to the car dealership commercial we keep seeing on the Phillies' station: "McCafferty Madness" just doesn't have the same ring as "March Madness." Drew booed loudly for the third time as he bats in the 6th....

2:14: Phils leave 'em loaded again, 2-1 after 4.

2:01: Bailey sac fly, 2-1 Sox in the 4th.

1:46: Carter with a homer. Lester walks Howard with the bases loaded but gets out of further trouble in the third. 1-1 after 3.